Tracking
the Journey
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Distance to go:
0 Mi
Distance
Ben and Tarka will cover 1800 miles starting from Scott's Terra Nova Hut at the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back to the coast again. That's equivalent to 69 back-to-back marathons hauling up to 200kg each (the weight of roughly two adult men) of kit and supplies necessary to survive.
Distances here are shown in statute miles.
Happy New Year (Day 68)
Day 68: S88° 19' 52.44", E159° 01' 12.66"
Duration: 10 Hr 15 Min
Daily distance: 21.9 Mi
Distance to go: 783 Mi
Temperature: -24 °C
Wind chill: -35 °C
Altitude: 10243 Ft
After a long day on the ice covering almost 22 miles (35.2km) and finishing up after 10pm Ben and Tarka headed straight to bed last night so no blog today.
They send their very best for 2014 and will be back online soon.
Happy New Year!
NB. Today's photo was taken in Greenland on a training expedition earlier this year.
Comments
# dj, January 1st 2014
After only about 10 miles, they seem to have stopped for awhile (two ‘pings’ worth - 2hrs?) a bit off their former path but still heading directly at their “ol’ camp 57”. (Isn’t that where the Pilot currently resides? Or close there unto.) On the MODIS image, it shows them directly abeam (22 miles to their left) an ice lake or some 34-mile long massive feature with a different density than the snow they are on. Just 12 miles to degree # 88.
# AndreaTP, January 1st 2014
Hi Dj. I see in your Google Earth file you have two different sets for the camps (“There” and “Back again”), that’s fine, now I’m asking, I would like to have two different color plots for the tracks, same as above, to see more clearly the deviations between the original path towards the Pole, and the return path. Is it a feature I can activate myself ?
Sorry if it’s a dumb question, I’m really a beginner in Google Earth.
Andrea
# dj, January 1st 2014
#andrea… not a dumb question at all. I spent almost 10 hours yesterday trying to figure out how to program around the doubled back trail and waypoints the expedition is serving on their site. Like you, I don’t find the current method very user friendly and would love to see the trail in two parts so I could use two different colors. Additionally, perhaps they don’t realize it yet, Google Earth has a known issue where it completely borks without warning once the line-string gets too long. After 10 years of making GE maps, I’ve just learned to never double up trails and that seems to have kept my maps out of trouble. And thirdly, every time they serve up a new file as they have it now, they have to RE-transmit all the trails, waypoints, and blogs from the last two months all over again - every hour!
So, trying to find a way around it, I split the links to the posts and camp waypoints into two - that was easy. I even found a way to find the turn-around waypoint at the pole and split the track; however, as it stands, every hour their new refresh transmission merely wipes it out and stitches it back.
I’m still trying, as you’ve seen the latest attempt uses a different lighter color on the first part of the trail; but with them stitched together in one full lump the only part that shows a new color is where there was a noticeable variance on the return trip. I’m still working on it, chalking the effort up to honing my programming skills, but don’t have much hope in succeeding due to Google’s idiosyncrasies and the expeditions methods.
# AndreaTP, January 2nd 2014
Dj, I really appreciate your work.
Thank you very much for your answer!
Andrea.
# Sheila England , January 1st 2014
What a way to start the New Year.
Happy and Blessed New Year Guys!
-Sheila
# Christian, January 2nd 2014
Ben,Tarka, a Happy New Year (in German “Ein gesundes neues Jahr”) 2014. Take care and stay strong..still following you daily
# Intrepid, January 2nd 2014
Dear Ben and Tarka,
Here we are, in 2014. May you always go the distance and live life the way you know is possible!
In appreciation of what you are doing and always looking forward to your next post.
Be well.
# Nick, January 2nd 2014
If you just did 1800 miles in ice and snow on foot?
I think a trip out to a supermarket in a Landrover would be like winning the Lotto.
Just think all the food and drink you can buy. Fish & Chips, Curry, Crinkle Cut crisps, Bread, Jars of coffee.